


are you down?

by blue_roses



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Minor Character Death, Mystery, not meant to be taken that seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 17:53:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9249173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_roses/pseuds/blue_roses
Summary: “Hey Keith, what’s cooler than being cool?” Lance asked.“Ugh,” Keith groaned, “ice cold. You told me this.”“Yeah I know. Because this body in the freezer? It’s ice motherfucking cold,” Lance said.-Keith and Lance get involved in a mystery. It's about as normal as you'd expect.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [klanced](https://archiveofourown.org/users/klanced/gifts).



> first fic of the new year and i genuinely have NO idea what this is. is it good is it bad only god (based katie) will tell. i joked abt this being a bbc sherlock au but it ended up more scooby doo. not meant to be read super seriously. enjoy ig?

   Lance has a thing he does. Admittedly, that’s pretty damn vague, but it’s just a thing he does. Whenever he was in Keith’s neighborhood, he’d hang around the shitty gate of Keith’s shitty apartment complex, humming or whistling some brand new tune he’d learned in dance. Keith would find Lance hanging around, loose limbed and smiling. Whenever they made eye contact, which they always did, Lance would say three words. 

  “Are you down?” he’d ask. Keith would take the time to memorize the way Lance’s gray sweatpants hung off of him, with whatever loose shirt he’d grab for dance. Keith has gone past answering for specifics. Keith would leave his place with a nod, and they’d go off to do what they do best. Solve mysteries.

  Lance’s divide between being a part time dance instructor full time detective with a major in astrophysics was a combination post people saw in dreams. Lance graduated valedictorian, Keith dropped out junior year due to “discipline problems”. They met again a year after graduation, Lance was running some online detective service, Keith was looking for his brother’s escape artist shi tzu. It was love at first sight, for Lance and the dog. Eventually, Keith just started hanging out over at Lance’s whenever he had to dog sit. The dog loved Lance, Lance loved the dog. Keith would come with Lance to cases whenever he was dogsitting, usually they were small and solved quickly. It was simple until Lance actually got a case. A real one. 

  “Dude,” Lance had said, “I gotta go like. Check out this client. It’s a real case and I don’t--”

  “Are you just going to  _ leave  _ me with Lucy?” Keith asked, “Shiro would kill me if I screwed this up. Not actually, but he’d scold me enough for me to wish I was dead. Anyways, I’m going with you. She loves you.”

   Lance looked at Keith. Keith looked at Lance. 

  “Do you want Lucy to pee in here? Because I don’t remember when she needs to go on walks,” Keith said. 

  “Fine. You can come with. But  _ don’t  _ say anything. I need to make a good first impression,” Lance already got his things together, so he went down to put Lucy in her harness. Keith grabbed Lance’s bags, made sure his bus pass was in his pocket (even though Lance had a car, he liked to be safe), and took Lucy in his arms once Lance was done. 

   “So...are you down?” Lance asked.

   “I don’t know what you mean?” Keith asked in turn. He was standing up and all. 

   “Like,” Lance said, “are you down for doing this? As in okay with basically being my partner for a day.”

    “I’m down,” Keith said, “Lucy isn’t going to walk herself.”

   Lance shook his head on that, but he did let Keith and Lucy into his car as they high tailed it to whatever location. Lance was, for lack of a better term, an erratic driver. Lucy had the window and could blissfully ignore what Keith couldn’t. It was fifteen minutes of hell until they pulled up in front of a house. Someone, a girl, was standing outside, and Keith was pretty sure there was a tazer peeking out of her pocket. Awkward. 

   “Hey,” Lance said, getting out of the car, “I’m the investigator, assuming you’re the client of course.” 

  The person looked up and down at Lance, then at Keith, and finally at Lucy, eyes softening. Another dog person. The girl extended her hand, and Lance took it. 

  “Pidge Holt,” the girl said, “I’m your client. Well, technically my mom is but she’s pretty shaken up over this. I can explain everything on our way up to our house.” 

  “Alright then. I’m Lance, as you know. This guy is Keith, the dog’s Lucy. Nice to meet you,” they let go of each other’s hands. Pidge gave them all nods of acknowledgment before turning towards the front door of the house. 

  “Don’t worry,” Pidge said, “Lucy and Rover will get along. He’s a lab, but he loves doting on smaller dogs. Want anything to drink when you come in?”

   “I’m good,” Keith said. 

   “Water would be nice,” Lance said. 

   “Cool,” Pidge said as she unlocked the door, “glasses are next to the sink. My mom’s not home, so I’ll make sure you two are decent enough for the job.” 

    “Aren’t you like, fifteen though?” Lance asked. Keith had a brief feeling he wouldn’t make it out alive, but Pidge managed to not reach for her tazer. 

   “I’m--” Pidge started, but Lance somehow managed to make the situation  _ worse  _ by interrupting her. 

   “Nineteen, I know. I might be overall handsome and seem like eye candy, but I do my research,” Lance said. For some reason that passed Keith’s brain, Pidge smiled at that. Then she opened the door, and Lance got tackled by a giant dog. Keith assumed it was Rover, and knowing Lance was a dog person, decided to just go inside the house with Lucy. 

    “Rover, come!” Pidge called, and the dog finally got out of Lance with one last lick. Lance managed to scramble himself in the house, and Keith managed to sit down at the kitchen table and relax while all that happened. 

   “Okay,” Lance said, “I have to wash my face when I get home. Definitely.” 

   “But not before you sit down,” Pidge said, “I am your client after all.”

 Lance sat down next to Keith after getting the glass of water he had requested. Everything went silent, which was only awkward for Keith because he was so used to hearing Lance talk. 

   “My older brother went missing,” Pidge looked down at her hands while she spoke, “he was a vet. He’d been into painkillers for a bit, but he went to rehab for that. But a few weeks after coming back, he disappeared.”

   “But he’s an adult,” Lance said, “are you sure he didn’t go out on his own or something?”

   “Yeah,” Pidge said, “I’m sure. I mean I hacked into his laptop and he made no plans. Even after everything, he was meticulous in plans. Something bad happened, I just know it.” 

   “Okay, I believe you. Would you mind getting me any of his things or records? I’d like to have everything together,” Lance said. Pidge nodded before going upstairs to what Keith assumed was her brother’s room. Then he turned to Lance. 

   “You were….really serious. Do you really believe her?” Keith wasn’t sure he did himself. His brother had gone missing for weeks before, but he always came back. This didn’t seem concrete enough of a case to take. 

   “I do,” Lance said, “because she didn’t try to be trusted. My friend Hunk taught me a thing or two about this: if shit feels too conveniently put together, it’s fake. She was too rude, left too much open. This is a girl who’s worried about her brother. We can connect the dots later. Well, I can. You can pet Lucy.” 

  “Alright the, if you’re sure. Let’s put some clues together...or something,” Keith said. 

  “Already on it,” Lance got up from his seat, and started walking around the house. Looking at family photos, things around the house. Sometimes he’d pick them up and look closer, and Keith had no idea how to try and help with the process. Instead, he went upstairs to see if Pidge really was trustworthy. Just because he trusted Lance didn’t mean he trusted her. 

  “Hello?” Keith asked when he reached the top of the stairs. He didn’t want to try and navigate the house like Lance did, so he just waited for a response. 

 “What’re you doing here?” Pidge asked.

 “Uh...I wanted to see if you needed help. You’ve been up here for a while,” Keith said. 

 “Oh I...didn’t expect that. You can come in. Third door to the left,” Pidge said, and Keith followed her instructions before coming in. It seemed like her brother’s room, judging from Pidge pulling things together into her arms. Keith took some in his without thinking, it did seem like a lot for her to carry. 

 “Thanks,” Pidge said, “he just has a lot of stuff. Matt, I mean.” Matt? That sounded familiar, but Keith couldn’t place it right now. He’d figure it out later. 

  “Seems like it,” Keith said, “Lance and I can look for other stuff up here as soon as we bring this down. 

  “Okay, but, thanks for this. The police don’t give a shit, mom’s a mess because dad died and now Matt’s missing, it’s been bad. Please, I just...want to find them,” Pidge looked down. Keith didn’t try and see the sadness in her eyes, even he could tell that much. They walked downstairs in silence, but something told Keith he had to say something before going back to business. 

  “I trust Lance,” Keith said, “he’s smart. And I can help in whatever way I can. Thanks for putting faith in us.”

 Within thirty seconds, Lance had come up to them with an expression Keith couldn’t comprehend, put a bunch of stuff on the kitchen table, and told Pidge one vague statement before dragging Keith with him upstairs: 

 “I’ll be right back.”

 Lance didn’t let Keith go the entire way up. It wasn’t that his grip was too tight it hurt, just that something about it felt firm to Keith. So he didn’t fight it. That didn’t change the fact that Keith had no idea what was happening when Lance shut the door behind them, leaving Pidge out of the situation. He quickly pulled out his phone and started texting. 

 “ _ What  _ are you doing?” Keith asked. 

 “This is fucked. I’m searching the room, but I called Hunk. We’re going to need major help for this. It isn’t just a vet gone on a bender, I saw a trace of those purple fucks in his stuff. We need help, lots of help,” Lance was pacing, digging through Matt’s room. Keith went down to help before Lance did anything stupid, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t ask questions. 

  “Okay, so we need help. It’s the Galra, right?” Keith asked.

  “Yeah,” Lance said, “you can go if--”

  “No. I want payback, and I can ask Shiro about anything he remembers. He does remember more than five years ago, and he’d want to help,” Keith said, “we can be a team.”

  “If you say so,” Lance said. And that was it, they were a team. They continued looking separately, and it was Keith who found the pistol behind an underwear drawer. 

  “And...that is a gun,” was about all Keith could say. He moved some of the underwear over to see some folded papers under some dog tags. 

  “Lance, do you have a bag we could put this stuff in?” Keith asked, “I think we have to look through his drawers more.”

  Lance came over, peering over Keith’s shoulder to see the gun. His hand resting on Keith’s shoulder, he handed Keith some gloves and a bag. 

  “I wear gloves,” Keith said. 

  “No, no, you don’t. You wear  _ those _ ,” he pointed at Keith’s gloves, “fingerless atrocities. You’re putting on latex buddy.”

  Keith made sure to glare at Lance the entire time, his willingness to help with this case outweighed his need to go against what Lance says. He’d make sure to do that later. Lance opened up a plastic ziploc bag, and Keith puch each item into a bag before Lance sealed them. 

  “Alright,” Lance said, “I’m gonna talk to our client and explain to and about Hunk. Here, I’ll put more bags on top of the drawers. See you when you come down.”

  “And you call yourself the detective,” Keith said, but Lance had already started rushing down stairs. Keith shuffled through the rest of the room, only finding a pack of cigarettes, some gum for those cigarettes. At least he won over Lance in the  _ finding shit  _ department, but he wanted to know what was going on. For once, Lance was too in his own head. 

   Keith did feel himself fitting into a role he didn’t know he liked or not, but all he could do was go downstairs and maybe pet Lucy. Take her for a walk, or anything else he let Lance do while he was dogsitting. He walked downstairs, only to see Lance with Pidge and who he was assuming was Hunk. Well, regardless of other circumstances, Keith had eyes. He could see how that name suited him. 

  “Uh...hey,” Keith said. He felt a pull towards Lucy that was stronger than ever before. 

  “Hi,” Pidge said, “so I guess my physics tutor and I are helping out. There’s some coordinates written in Matt’s journal, so I went in to locate them. We also saw some plans that look like something Hunk could figure out. All that calculation layout stuff is like his specialty he’s really smart.” 

  “I’m Hunk by the way,” Hunk said, “I mean it’s obvious but in case you were wondering. Full time best friend part time physics tutor. Nice to meet you, Lance told me about you.”

  “I didn’t say that much,” Lance said, which only made Keith more confused. As if this wasn’t a lot to handle in the first place. 

  “Okay?” Keith said, “so are we doing the board?”

  “The conspiracy board?” Lance asked, “that’s been tradition man. But first, we gotta find those coordinates. Pidge, any updates?”

   “Not your sidekick,” Pidge said, “and I’m taking this out of your salary.”

   “Oh, you can take it out of Hunk’s! Or Keith’s,” Lance said. Keith knew Lance paid him back in dog sitting on any day he could. Keith was also pretty sure Hunk wasn’t being paid either. That went uncommented when Pidge read out some coordinates. 

  “I looked it up on Google Maps it’s...Altea Corp? The parking lot, specifically. I’ve never heard of it Are you going to go over there?” Pidge asked. 

   “Yeah,” Lance smiled, “Keith and I will check it out. We can load up Matt’s stuff in my car and get back to you.” 

    “Nah,” Pidge said.

  “Huh?” Lance asked. 

  “Same salary, but I help. Altea Corp has tech, which I can hack into. I already found out just about everything about our CEO, Allura. I want to be able to help, that’s why I came instead of my mom,” Pidge was clearly refusing to take “no” for an answer. Lance patted her back in response, and said some stuff that Keith stopped listening to. He was already thinking of the name Allura.  _ Shit _ . 

  “I gotta call my brother,” Keith said, “like I  _ have  _ to call him. Right now. Immediately.” He vaguely heard a  _ Keith! Don’t you walk away from me  _ before he went outside to call Shiro. He called once, then twice. His brother finally picked up the third time, and Keith had to sigh in response. 

  “Keith,” Shiro’s voice was slightly muffled, “you usually don’t call. What’s up?”

  “Do you know a Matt Holt? And an Altea?” Keith asked. 

  “Yes to all three. Do I need to ask you what’s going on young man?” Shiro was laying on the scolding tone more thickly than usual. Something’s up. Keith knew Allura. Keith knew Allura as the woman Shiro met at the gym. They’d only really interacted once, when they went to the convenience store to pick up chewing gum and four people said they were a  _ beautiful couple _ . Neither of them liked the compliment. But he knew Allura was a nice person, and one of Shiro’s few friends. This wasn’t good at all. 

  “Well, Matt Holt went missing. And we found coordinates to Altea Crop in his stuff,” Keith said. 

  “You’re with Lance?” Shiro asked, as if that wasn’t a given considering the circumstances. 

  “Yeah, so what’s happening?” Keith asked. He was old enough to know this, even when Shiro made him feel way too young sometimes. 

  “Matt Holt...is an old war buddy of mine. When I went home, he was still a POW, we only just started getting back in touch. You might’ve seen his texts the last time you accidentally took my phone. And he had coordinates to Altea?” Shiro seemed more tired than before, and Keith would have to ask him later. He felt more confused than ever. 

  “Yeah,” Keith said, “that’s why I asked. Anyways, I just wanted to make sure. I gotta go, bye.”

 He vaguely heard something sort of similar to protests, but he ignored them. He had to tell Lance what happened, and he’d go to Altea’s parking lot. He’d stood there for a moment, not sure what to do until he heard a honk of the horn. 

  “Keith! Hurry up, we gotta get a move on!” Lance shouted from the window. Keith rolled his eyes, stuffing his phone in his pocket and walking towards Lance’s car. Keith went in the passenger seat, and Lance strapped him in before he could think. 

  “Hey,” Keith said. 

  “Hey,” Lance started up the car. 

  “How could you tell it was Galra?” Keith asked.

  “It was their symbol. Drawn in the notebook, the word  _ Zarkon  _ and the head of a black lion. I tore it out before the others could see,” Lance looked focused, tired. Keith knew the Galra in a different way. The Galra haunted Keith’s family. Lance’s family lived under them for a few years. It was complicated and sad. 

   “Are you scared the Holts are--” 

   “No,” Lance said, “they’re a military family through and through. It’s just a lot messier, and I’d rather keep this between us and Hunk.” 

  “Okay. But if this is going to stress you out, I’m using boyfriend privileges to hand this to the police,” Keith said. He watched Lance react to the words. Slow at first, but he still managed to make Lance smile just a bit. It only took a few minutes to get to Altea, but Lance was still smiling the entire time. 

  “You know,” Lance said as he got out of the car, “you said the  _ b  _ word for the first time. It’s been a month.” 

  “...I didn’t really notice?” Keith said, “It just came out. Now if you can dwell on that you can figure out what’s so special about this parking lot.” 

  Other than the fact it was fairly empty, seemed old. Keith had seen the official parking garage, so this was most likely out of commission. Lance had already pulled out a metal detector from the trunk, which actually used to belong to Keith, but it was the one month anniversary gift. Sometimes people just had to make sacrifices. 

  Lance walked around with the detector, leaning as close to the ground as he could with his long limbs. Keith settled for just plain looking around. He was so focused on getting  _ something  _ before Lance that he barely noticed his boyfriend yell. Keith looked up, and around, and saw the metal detector on the floor. He had a bus pass and his butterfly knife, he could do something if someone took Lance he’d--

  “Keith, I’m down here!” Lance called, and Keith looked down. At Lance. In a pothole of sorts. 

   “Suddenly, I can’t see!” Keith said, as soon as Lance said, “There’s a bunch of stuff in here, I think it was a bunker!” It was frustrating, but Keith had a dream of going into a bunker like this. It was more connected to Mothman than any runaway war veteran, but this would do. 

   Keith looked down, took out his phone flashlight to see a ladder Lance must’ve slipped past. He climbed down, slowly despite Lance’s impatient tapping. Three quarters of the way down, Keith felt arms slip around him as he was lifted down to the rest of the bunker. 

  “Impatient much?” Keith couldn’t keep the fondness out of his voice. 

  “It’s the perks of having a short boyfriend you can just. Lift him up easy,” Lance was smiling, Keith didn’t need a flashlight to tell that much. Probably with the stupid eyebrow waggle too. Keith was considerably less charmed. There were a few books, some machinery, a manual on prosthetics, and ammunition. Lance was trying to pry open the fridge, and Keith decided to use his time to take photographs of all the evidence. 

  “Man,” Keith sighed, “this place has a lot. Do you think it belonged to--”

  “Hey Keith, what’s cooler than being cool?” Lance asked.

  “ _ Ugh _ ,” Keith groaned, “ice cold. You told me this.”

  “Yeah I know. Because this body in the freezer? It’s  _ ice  _ motherfucking cold,” Lance said. 

  “What?” Keith went over to the freezer and looked at what was there. It was a body. And for all the ways Keith had imagined seeing his college aerodynamics professor again,  _ this  _ was not one of them. 

   “That’s Professor Iverson. Dead. In a freezer. In what we’ve assumed is Matt Holt’s bunker,” Keith took a picture. He had no idea  _ why  _ he did but he just. Did it. He’d thank himself later. 

   “Yup,” Lance said, “and we gotta carry a fucking freezer back up. To like, the morgue or something.” 

   “You don’t  _ sound  _ that panicked,” Keith said. Which probably meant Lance was internalizing, which was...not good to say the least. Usually they’d pet Lucy or watch TV, but then usually they didn’t see dead bodies in the freezer. What the fuck. 

 Keith, honestly, still has trouble describing  _ what  _ happened next. Lance had gloves on, and Keith got fresh ones put on him. They’d carried the freezer before realizing they needed actual manpower to get that thing above ground. Or the cops. Lance began pacing at police involvement, and Keith was trying to see if he could get cell service. That was when the man attacked. 

 What Keith heard in about fifteen seconds: a  _ hiii-yah! _ , a lot of clattering, Lance scream, a  _ lot  _ of yelling, and fake karate. By the time he managed to react and  _ not  _ seem like a murderer, Lance and the man were having a civil conversation. 

  “My apologies,” the man said, “I would have, of course, knocked you out with my moves in an instant, but it’d be no use if it was because of a misunderstanding.”

   “No problem Coran,” Lance said, “oh yeah Keith. This guy’s Coran. He works at Altea and was sent by the CEO to investigate what was happening. Neither of us seemed to kill Iverson, so it’s good.” This could  _ not  _ be real.

   “It’s a pleasure to meet you Keith,” Coran extended his hand, and Keith waited a moment before taking it. He still had a knife, everything would be okay. 

   “...you too,” Keith said. He stood up even when offered a seat, it all felt more comfortable that way. 

  “Well,” Lance said, “you told your CEO you were down here, right? Is she like super strong?”

_ Yes  _ Keith thought as Coran boasted about it out loud, and confirmed she’d be there in twenty if he didn’t respond. It felt more fatherly than anything, and Keith figured there was history now. But there was also a dead body, so that definitely took priority. 

  He looked at Lance and Coran conversing, and knew it  _ had  _ to take priority. Four minutes later, his brother’s gym partner and his sort of friend, Allura saw her father figure, him, and his boyfriend in a pothole bunker. She helped them and the body up, and gave a look that told Keith she had a  _ lot  _ of questions. She got along with Lance though, maybe them carrying the freezer up to the trunk was a bonding moment of sorts. 

  “Hey,” Lance had said, when he and Keith were on one side of his car, while Allura and Coran were talking in private for the nth time. 

   “Hey,” Keith responded. He’d texted Shiro a minute before, explaining that Lance would drop him off. It was around five in the evening, and Lance still had to explain to Pidge and Hunk, pick up Lucy, and give her to Keith, all before night came. 

   “Are you down? With all of this...shit, I mean, it is a lot. And I get why you wouldn’t want to, but are you? That’s pretty important to kno--”

   “I’m down,” Keith said, “dead bodies and all. We’re partners, right?”

    “As much as Holmes and Watson are,” Lance said, but he was trying not to laugh. Keith jabbed his side anyways, and they both let themselves laugh, crouching down to the ground. They held onto each other the entire time, even a bit when Lance was driving, with Allura and Coran and the freezer in the back seat. It was one of the strangest days of Keith’s life, and he wouldn’t have minded sharing more of those as long as Lance was in them (maybe not the  _ cause  _ of all of them though, there was only so much he could take). 

  Lance pulled up in front of the Holt house around six, rush hour traffic being the way it was. He got out first, before Keith saw some twisted repeat of a few hours ago. Except instead of their client Pidge Holt, it was his brother. 

  “Shiro!” Allura called out. She exited the car with grace: like she didn’t just spend rush our next to a frozen body. That was...something else alright. Keith hesitated a few minutes, because he was going to get a scolding, or something equally heartbreaking. But he did leave, taking a few steps towards his brother before being wrapped in a bone crushing hug. Emphasis on the crushing. 

  “Hey,” Keith said, “I’m fine. Did Allura contact you?” He didn’t really know what else to say, so sticking to that seemed to be his best bet. 

   “This is all dangerous,” Shiro said, “if Allura and I weren’t friends, who  _ knows  _ what could’ve happened.”

    “Lance and I,” Keith sighed, “we can’t stop now. It’s too messy. We found our old professor  _ dead  _ in your old friend’s weird parking lot bunker. We’re in way too deep.” 

    “Then I’ll help you,” Shiro pulled them apart, “I’m serious. This is too much for you kids alone, and Matt wa-- _ is  _ my friend. I want to help.” 

   Keith used to play games with Shiro. Outdoors, video games, it didn’t matter. It was just a thing they did as a team. Shiro didn’t play a lot of that anymore, partially because he couldn’t stand flashes for a while, partially because he was thirty. Murder really did bring people together, Keith thought. 

  “Can we order shitty food?” Keith asked. 

  “Sure,” Shiro replied, “as long as it isn’t last week’s spring rolls.” Keith smiled at that, and Lance looked at him asking for the story. Keith would explain later, but now that he knew he and Shiro were okay, he had to deal with two other people he barely knew. Well, sort of. He didn’t have to make the first step when Pidge opened the door. 

  “So,” Pidge said, “that was a great tutoring session you left me in. You’re all meeting here tomorrow. Three P.M.,  _ no  _ excuses we’re solving this.” Keith could hear Hunk groan in the distance.  

  “We?” Lance asked, “I just got this today! Give me some faith.”

  “Not happening! I did, like, so much that you’ll see tomorrow. You’ll be bored to tears hearing it, but I’m  _ pooped! _ ” Hunk yelled out, before Keith heard an audible yawn. He must’ve really worked hard. Keith could cut him some slack.

   “Okay,” Keith said before Lance decided to go for the weak rebuttal, “as a team or something?” 

  Pidge smiled, probably thinking about something Keith couldn’t understand, but she was happy, “Well, only if we can stand each other.” 

  “I can stand him,” Keith pointed at Lance, “I’m sure I can deal with anything else.” 

   “Heard that!” Lance said, leaning close to Keith’s ear. He wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulder, and went in to whisper, “hey, got your bus pass?”

  Keith nodded, and Lance smiled in response, “How about you and me? We ditch them and go on a date.”

   “We have a dead body in your trunk,” Keith whispered back.

   “All the more reason to go on a date. You down?” Lance asked, all smug and satisfied with himself. 

  “Oh I’m down,” Keith said, “first one to the bus stop gets free dinner.” Lance perked up at that, and before either of them knew it they started running. Lance lost, and he was a sore loser but a good treater. They only spent two hours together, before Keith had to talk more to Shiro and Lance had to wake up early. He was still a dance instructor after all. Keith didn’t mind though, it was the most romantic sushi date he’d been on in his life. 

  Keith had a talk. Which was less talk more,  _ we’re both petting Lucy at the same time so let’s explain everything as we work tomorrow on a murder missing persons mystery _ . It was honestly the only kind of talk Keith wanted, and it was fine that way. He took a shower, tried not to think too much and failed, and eventually got some sleep. 

  The next day, Lance is back with the pattern. Intentionally in Keith’s neighborhood, he’d hang around the shitty gate of Keith’s shitty apartment complex, humming or whistling some brand new tune he’d learned in dance. Keith finds Lance hanging around, loose limbed and smiling, and he didn’t hear the, “Are you down?” before he said yes. Memorize the rest later.

  For now, they have a mystery to solve. 


End file.
